September 25/01 3:20 am - Bessette Out of Worlds, Bretagne, Vuelta

Below is the statement Lyne Bessette's agent sent us. We are still waiting for a response from the CCA regarding a replacement rider.

Official release from Lyne Bessette:

Lyne Bessette will not take part in the road world championships, which take place in Lisbon (Portugal) October 9-14. Tired, physically and mentally, Bessette returned home last week and will yield her place to another within the Canadian team.

"I was victim of falls in the Tour of Holland and my wounds took time to heal. Then in the Tour of Switzerland, I was attacked by a virus. I believe that my body was quite simply tired. Rather than going to the championships of the world and not being at my best, I think it is better to withdraw and to leave the place to a rider better prepared than me", said Bessette, who has resumed light training. "Moreover, I do not deny it, the terrorist attacks made me reflect. With my return voyage from Europe (she flew from Zurich to Boston), I was in a hurry to get back home."

Bessette has had an incredible season: victories in the Tour de l'Aude, Hewlett-Packard Classic and Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (third consecutive year), in addition to wins at Vasilia, Merced, Arlington and the Canadian road championships. She also finished 3rd in the Montreal World Cup and the GP Feminin. All that after having undergone a fracture of the right clavicle, in March.

"I am proud of my season, the best of my career. I achieved a large goal, to have controlled the stress of holding the leader's jersey in so many races", she continued. "Now, I am taking it easy. I started again with jogging and I entered my first cyclo-cross race on the weekend. I am having fun, which is good."

As is the case each year, Bessette will train on her own throughout the autumn and will join her team mates in the United States, at the beginning of the new year.